Art deco tower on Wacker Drive could fetch $48 million

The owners of 221 N. LaSalle hired CBRE Inc. to sell most of the 41-story art deco tower. Photo from CoStar Group Inc.

An 85-year-old riverside tower previously redeveloped as an office condominium building is now being offered for sale outright, with the owners hoping to fetch close to $48 million.

The owners, a group of South American investors affiliated with Miami-based Cape Horn Group LLC, hired Los Angeles-based CBRE Inc. to sell most of the 41-story art deco tower at 221 N. LaSalle St., also known as the LaSalle-Wacker Building, confirmed Dan Deuter, senior vice president in CBRE's Chicago office.

CBRE is offering about 360,000 square feet — 87 percent of the building's space — that has not already been sold off. The Cape Horn venture bought the tower at LaSalle and Wacker Drive for $53 million at the height of the market in August 2006 and began selling off individual pieces. Its retail space, parking garage and some office space are now owned separately.

Because the property's fragmented ownership complicates the transaction, estimates of its sale price vary widely. It could sell for less than $110 per square foot, or below $39 million, or for nearly $135 per square foot, or about $48 million, people familiar with the tower estimate.

A Cape Horn executive did not return a call.

TECH TENANT APPEAL?

New owners could upgrade common areas and add a roof deck and modern finishes to appeal to technology-based tenants and other smaller startups, Mr. Deuter said.

“Having that location just across the river from the Merchandise Mart and the hottest tech market, we think there's an opportunity to draft off all of the technology demand that's going on in River North and the West Loop,” Mr. Deuter said. “It really is a trophy location. We think the art deco architecture will have a lot of appeal to loft users, and views along the river are phenomenal.”

The office space for sale is about 80 percent leased to 81 tenants, Mr. Deuter said.

Under the office condo redevelopment, a format that has largely fallen out of favor in recent years, the Cape Horn venture sold off retail space — which includes Sidebar Grille — and some office space in eight deals totaling $9.7 million in 2008. In 2009, it sold off the two-story parking garage for another $1.65 million.